by David Kachel
November 14th
Bangkok, Thailand
“…You’re about to have company” came through Kayne’s headset, and he sprung into action.
“Move, move! Set up defensive positions!” He turned his attention back to Reece. “Which way are they approaching?”
Suddenly, he heard a sound on the roof. Signalling for silence, Kayne crouched down and pointed his gun at the ceiling, waiting.
A laser shot through the metal, and traced a square wide enough to lower a car through. It fell in, and was followed by five men in armoured suits.
“Holy Mother of…” started Kayne, as he took aim.
Streams of smoke came from large packs on their back, slowing their descent. The lead suit had a strange weapon mounted on its left forearm where the others had machine guns. The barrel of this weapon was glowing, so Kayne guessed it was the laser.
As they descended, a voice came out of speakers mounted on the leader, and a thick Irish accent filled the room.
“This is Major O’Leary from the Global Emergency Assessment and Response, Armoured Corps. Drop your weapons, and put your hands behind your head.”
Wait a second, this is GEAR? Jacob thought. Every self-respecting soldier had heard of GEAR, the global response agency that would step in to save the day whenever things got hot. In a time when crime started being perpetuated globally, arguments of authority and jurisdiction would see many a criminal, super-villain or terrorist slip free of several charges. The solution was presented in the form of GEAR; a small, well honed international response team who would shoot first, ask questions later. Accepted by virtually every country, with a few exceptions the agency is the go-to for any official who wants law enforcement in a hostile situation where there is ambiguity over its international status. It made sense they were interested in American Eagle, he had been hopping around to so many countries, including several the US had no power in, or wouldn’t want to interfere with.
This meant that this had to be Major ‘Madman’ O’Leary, the leader of the famous Armoured Corps. A relatively new acquisition into GEAR, the teaming up of armoured supervillain Red Alert and an android built by Doctor Synapse in a hostage situation meant that there had to be superhuman intervention.
With the hostages being held in international waters, the US government couldn’t send in the New Patriots, so they called GEAR. GEAR borrowed a prototype armoured suit from Nord Industries, and the tester, Major O’Leary.
O’Leary led a team of men into the floating embassy, and came out with the deactivated Red Alert suit, the hostages, and not a single casualty.
GEAR then set up the Armoured Corps to intervene in particularly hazardous situations, and thus far they have been the most successful anti-terror task force in history. And now they were pointing weapons at the Fearless Falcons, waiting for the team to make a move.
Kayne signalled to the Falcons, dropped his weapon. They followed suit and walked out into the open.
O’Leary’s suit turned toward Kayne “Identify yourself.”
“Jacob Kayne, field leader of the Fearless Falcons, sir Formerly Captain Jacob Kayne of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines.”
“Where is the American Eagle, soldier?”
“Unknown, sir. He was taken to an unknown location by an enemy, the leader of a drug cartel known as the Snakehead.”
“What happened here?” with a large metal arm, he indicated the dead Snakehead guards.
“We were bound, but escaped, sir. It got messy.”
“What is your next move, Kayne?”
That’s interesting, now he’s asking me, not interrogating me. Somewhere along the line, he decides we’re friends? It occurred to Kayne that this may not be O’Leary. He was hiding behind a solid steel faceplate capable of deflecting bullets.
“Sir?”
“I’m assuming you wish to find out the location and status of American Eagle to see if you should mount a rescue.”
“Yes sir.”
“Let us handle the rescue, that’s what we’re here for. You just tell us how you intend to find him.”
Kayne hesitated, but he did already have a plan. Couldn’t hurt to have the firepower of the Armoured Corps back it up. “American Eagle has an emergency transponder in his utility belt, which we can activate by remote, than triangulate.”
“Do so, then let us handle it.”
“If I may, sir? Not to sound ungrateful, but this awfully convenient. I would like some proof that you are in fact O’Leary, and not an imposter. We’ve already had too many close calls tonight.”
Silence followed, in which several members of the Falcons imagined themselves being cut in half by the thermal laser that burnt right through solid metal.
“Very well.” And all five suits opened up, showing the identity of all five soldiers: Major Madman O’Leary, Lt. Melee Barnes, Sgt. Hornet Whittaker, Corporal Ironclad Hogan and Captain Ratchet Robson.
But only one opened to reveal the face that all soldiers knew, the man they wanted to be when they grew up. He fought in ‘Nam, Korea and who knows where else, and is now taking part in the most dangerous missions in the world. A rough, worn face, grey hair beginning to go white, and eyes that could melt steel, this was Major O’Leary without a shred of doubt.
“My apologies, sir.” Kayne saluted, snapping into place like the old days. “I will locate the Eagle ASAP, and inform you of his location.”
The Irishman nodded “Good. And soldier? No apologies needed, you were following your instincts, the best weapon you can have.”
Jacob Kayne was forty five years old and had been through rough times himself, but somehow he felt like a cadet in an exercise when he heard O’Leary talk. He walked over to the table where the security monitors lay, and picked up his bag. In it was a small handheld unit with a screen and a switch. When he flicked the switch, a series of numbers began flashing up on screen.
“American Eagle is being held half a mile away. The co-ordinates matchup to…” he traced his finger along a map of Bangkok “… a restaurant downtown.” Handing the map over to Major O’Leary, he then stood back in position.
“Melee! Hornet!”
“Yes, sir?” they replied
“Go to this location, and bring back the American Eagle.” He handed them the map, and they
“Yes, sir!” They both closed their suits, and took off into the air.
*****
Sgt. Samuel ‘Hornet’ Whittaker watched as Lt. Barnes led the way, the jumpjets on their suits capable of lifting them three hundred metres into the air. From there, they aimed in the right direction and fell, using the jets to lift them back up as they approached the building tops. Sustained flight for something this small and heavy was nearly impossible.
Whittaker was the first to break the silence “So, Melee. What do you think about all this?”
“I think this is strange. I mean, calling in us for a man in a cape? Why not call in Donahue and his team? No, I think the top dogs expect trouble, or maybe they really want this guy and we’re gonna get the extermination order on the return trip.”
“I guess so. But American Eagle? I mean, I know he only runs around St. Ted, but c’mon he’s the first guy in like ten years to be registered without powers or a suit like us. That’s saying something for the guy, ain’t it?”
“If you like him so much, you can carry him back. In fact, that’s how we’ll do this. I’ll shoot everyone else, you get to babysit the cape.”
“What on Earth could you have against him?”
“It’s the idea of a normal guy thinking he can be like the rest of them. If he wants to be a superhero, he’s gonna get so much crap, I don’t think any regular guy could take it.”
“So you reckon you could do a better job?”
“Hey, I got GEAR combat training, and plenty of experience in sticky situations. So do you. What’s he got?”
*****
“Nothing. What the hell? Where is he?” shouted Eagle, looking around the place. He saw Abdul Hassam and the kickboxing Thai torturer (I should really learn his name thought Eagle) tied up and harmless, but Snakehead had escaped. American Eagle turned to Melee.
“You got some sort of tracking system on that thing?”
“Motion sensors, infrared filter, short range radio frequency triangulation system, yeah that’s about all.”
“Can you use the motion trackers and infrared to find Snakehead?”
“’Snakehead’? Who the hell is ‘Snakehead’?”
A new amplified voice filtered through the walls.“I am.”
Suddenly the wall was caved in by another large exoskeleton. This one was slightly taller, and black not green. Instead of the heavy machine gun on his arm, he had an actual Gatling cannon, like on a helicopter. The Snakehead had somehow, impossibly, gotten ahold of a more advanced version of the GEAR Armoured Corps exoskeleton.
“What’s the matter, Americans? Never faced an enemy with your own weapons? I’m surprised, considering the number of your weapons I have sold to your enemies, I thought you would be used to it.”
Melee’s voice was shocked and angry “How the hell did you get that? And who are you?”
“As our friend in the colourful suit has already said, I am Snakehead.” And he raised his arm and fired rounds from the Gatling cannon straight at Melee, and fired a grenade at American Eagle.
Eagle dodged, but realised that he was spent. His injuries were major, he had lost enough blood, and the adrenaline shot he had taken when he retrieved his belt was wearing off. It was time to leave.
Melee was completely unharmed by the Gatling attack, and he drew back a fist and struck Snakehead, sending the criminal flying back through the damaged wall.
“You’re in no shape for a fight, American Eagle. Hornet, Melee. Extract Alpha Echo now, we have hostiles down here.” Eagle was puzzled, until he remembered the radio headset. “Move toward the surface, Eagle, Hornet will take you to safety.”
Taking his advice, Eagle started running toward the doorway.
Snakehead saw and called “I don’t think so.” He fired a rocket into the doorway, collapsing it. Eagle dove through, breaking his leg.
He started dragging himself away, the sounds of the battle filling his head. Then pounding footsteps, as Hornet entered the tunnel system.
“I got you. Damn, they messed you up good. Madman? Hornet. I got Alpha Echo, heading home. Melee has encountered hostiles, will be along momentarily.” Then he heard the sounds of the fight.
“Who the hell is down there, sounds like a freaking warzone?”
American Eagle rolled over onto his back. “Another…suit. Snakehead has an exoskeleton like yours, but bigger. ”
“You serious? Madman, come in. Hornet here, with bad news. Alpha Echo reports that Melee is engaged with a exoskeleton. Confirm: Alpha Echo reports that Melee is engaged with hostile exoskeleton.”
Eagle couldn’t hear the reply, but decided it was a big deal when Hornet said, “Ironclad, sir? Yessir, I am moving Alpha Echo now.”
“Who’s Ironclad?”
“Heavy weapons expert of the team. While we have machine guns and grenades, he has anti tank shells and a Gatling cannon.”
“That’s the suit that Melee is fighting”
“Now I know you’re joking.”
“No I’m not, ask him yourself.”
This time American Eagle didn’t hear the conversation. He surmised that the broadcast mode was able to be turned on and off, and that he only heard the earlier calls because the Corpsman were not worrying about turning it off to call, then on to relay orders to Eagle. But Hornet turned it on to talk to Eagle as he carried him up the tunnel.
“Damn me, but your right. Our suits are state of the art, but Melee is named that for a reason. His armour is specialised for mission where fireworks aren’t needed. He wouldn’t last forever against an Ironclad.”
“What do we do?”
“I got orders, I’m to guard you. I wish I could go help, but you’re the priority. Besides, our Ironclad will be here soon.”
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